1. Field of the Invention
The presnt invention relates to a jet ink use in ink jets and, more particularly, to an ink for which is suitable for use in printing patterns on woven or non-woven cloths. The present invention is concerned also with an ink jet printing method which makes use of the ink.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, various methods have been used in printing patterns on woven or non-woven cloths, such as roller printing method, screen printing method, transfer printing method, and so forth. It has been proposed also to print patterns on woven or non-woven cloths by means of an ink jet, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59108/1975.
The conventional general printing methods require printing plates such as a plate for printing cylinder and a screen plate, which are generally expensive. The transfer printing method also requires an expensive plate for transferring a sheet of transfer paper. Therefore, these conventional methods are not profitable unless the quantity of the product is sufficiently large. In addition, since the fashion of the print pattern changes rapidly, there is a risk in that a large quantity of the printed products are not sold but kept in stock when production cannot follow the rapid change in the fashion.
The printing method making use of an ink jet has been proposed to deal with these problems. This method, however, suffers from the following disadvantages. Namely, the quality of the print tends to be impaired due to blotting on the cloth, partly because the ink jet printer does not allow the use of an ink having high viscosity and partly because cloth usually has rougher texture than paper, thus making it difficult to print patterns of minute or delicate design. In addition, the discharge of the ink tends to be unstable and the response to high frequency is liable to be impaired depending on the physical property of the ink, owing to the fact that the ink has to be discharged through minute nozzles at high velocity and at high frequency.
It is also known that the print formed by using a conventional ink for ink jet, particularly that printed by use of a reactive dye or reactive disperse dye, exhibits a slow dye-fixing rate and a minimal washing fastness.